We are following the below schedule (page counts may vary based on your medium):
Week
Up to
Approximate Pages
Percent
Paperback page
Week 1
* - last sentence ending 最後になった
31
8%
40
Week 2
* - last sentence ending 視ていたのだろう
26
14%
67
Week 3
* - last sentence ending 明かしてください
26
19%
94
Week 4
end of 第一話
24
24%
118
Week 5
* - last sentence ending じいぅと見つめていた
28
31%
155
Week 6
* - last sentence ending 席に立った
25
37%
181
Week 7
end of 第二話
29
43%
210
Week 8
* - last sentence ending 女の子です
29
49%
242
Week 9
* - last sentence ending 見つかったそうです
33
56%
275
Week 10
* - last sentence ending 愛しげに抱きしめた
33
64%
317
Week 11
* - last sentence ending はそう判断した
26
70%
344
Week 12
English sentence containing “Iced coffee”
29
76%
372
Week 13
English sentence containing “Grimoire”
29
81%
402
Week 14
* - last sentence ending その経緯を知りたいです
44
90%
455
Week 15
until 解説
29
96%
474
I will generally copy this information over thread to thread each week for ease of finding - you can always expect the schedule at the top of any weekly thread
Law and Order
Any reveals, for the current chapters must be behind spoilers or detail curtains. When we get further in you don’t need to hide details that were revealed in previous chapters.
Questions on vocab, grammar, nuance, and the like are both welcome and encouraged. If you’re not sure if it’s a spoiler, assume it is and use one of the above options to hide the text.
You are encouraged to speculate and guess wildly
Be kind about other peoples’ wild guesses
Even if you don’t read the chapter(s) in time, you are still encouraged to post in the thread for that reading once you have finished it. I advise not reading ahead in the threads as you may see spoilers.
To gauge participation - a poll!
Are you reading week 5 of Medium?
Yes, I’m planning to read along/am reading along this week
Okay, so I think with my audiobook the voice lines sound different every time 翡翠 gets mentioned. I wonder if they pronounced the name wrong and had to record all the lines again? I still have almost no clue about name readings and how often they get messed up, so no idea if this theory holds up
Interesting choice to give us the murderer right up front. I wonder if the author is trying to signal “don’t think about who, think about how and why”, or more generally “don’t think about this as a mystery puzzle to be solved”?
I think that’s the case and I already suspect our beautiful heroine will get pulled into it as a potential victim due to the killer seeming to be obsessed with what happens at the moment of / after(?) death.
Oh! I completely forgot that one also gave the culprit up front that one I’m less sure of. I think it is just us sussing out the why and how and less a whodunnit, but it’s daring plot move as the why and how need to be very interesting to make it worth knowing the criminal from the get go.
I feel a lot more hopeful for this book now that the second story is going! It’s still pretty cheesy with how she keeps getting described but I don’t mind it. It does have a bit of a light novel feel. I’m curious as to how the mirrors will play into the plot and how much of a supernatural element will there be, or if there’s just some non-supernatural trickery going on
Question about the beginning of 第二話: What kind of place is 水鏡荘? I googled it, but it seems to mostly turn up results for this book. Is it a real place?
I don’t think so; I assumed it was simply the name of this guy’s holiday home / second home (the 荘 suffix is super common in the name of that kind of getaway-cottage-in-the-countryside, i.e. a 別荘).
It’s back to regularly scheduled programming when you hit 第二話! If you haven’t finished Interlude and don’t want to I summarized it in the Home Post for the book.
Yeah, like everyone else, I felt pretty underwhelmed by the first story, but I’m hoping it there’s to just serve as an introduction to everything and isn’t indicative of later quality. If you think about it, Hisui’s powers will either reveal the culprit or not reveal the culprit, so the story will either be about using it as a clue to identify the killer or trying to find physical proof for what they learned from Hisui’s powers. So I think it makes sense for the first two stories to follow each pattern once.
I didn’t get the reference until the busted out the books, but that’s pretty funny. and fortunately this is a lot more readableI wonder if the motive is that Kokushokan was the story (idea?) of Bessho that Kurogoshi said would def win an award (that is, Kurogoshi stole Bessho’s work). Don’t really have much else at the moment.
All the discussion of the big bad has been so contrived. ‘Oooooh, the only way I’d be able to be caught would be by someone with magic powers’ ‘Oooooh, these crimes are so impossible, it’s like they’re done by an actual spirit’ oh get over yourself, there are plenty of other serial killers who managed to evade the police for a long time by avoiding leaving evidence. heck, there are serial killers who managed to avoid the police for a while despite leaving evidence cuz sometimes police aren’t actually as competent as the media makes them out to be
I had fallen behind for a couple of weeks, but I’m all caught up now. I must say the book is barely holding my interest, but I’m determined to finish it. Maybe it will reward me later on, but for now the constant descriptions of Hisui’s eyes, hair and skin are getting too much to bear. Seriously, we remember what she looks like, get over it. And all the will they won’t they teasing
My hope for the villain (unfounded speculation) is that it’s the narrator himself. If Hisui’s powers are for real she would have sensed it, I know, but at least it would make him a little more interesting.
I’m having a lot of trouble following what’s going on this week. I don’t know if I’m just more mentally preoccupied this week or what, but I just keep having to rewind the audiobook. Could anyone give me a high-level overview of what happens in this week’s reading so I can orient myself a bit as I listen again?
I hear you. I’ve heard in a spoiler-free review that it actually does pay off in the end, so here’s hoping.
An author is murdered in his study in his isolated villa, Mikagami-sou. Shirou investigates, and Hisui comes and tells him that the culprit is someone named Bessho, which she discovered with her powers. We then flash back to earlier. The victim, Kurogoshi, is an author who was hosting a BBQ at Mikagami-sou. Shirou invites Hisui and her secretary, but the secretary can’t make it so it ends up being just Hisui and Shirou, who will be staying overnight. Hisui is a big hit at the party. Among the partygoers Yukino, who becomes friends with Hisui, and Bessho, who is Kurogoshi’s protege. Mikagami-sou, which used to be known as Kokushokan, has a long history of spooky occurrences, and Kurogoshi bought it because he’s interested in that type of stuff. Part of the reason Hisui is there is to see if she can sense anything strange in the house. Kurogoshi reveals his newest book is a murder mystery that takes place in Kokushokan (Mikagami-sou) and gives everyone a copy. The partygoers who came for the day leave and the rest retire to bed. Hisui wants to stay up in order to see if anything strange happens; Shirou and Hisui begin to read Kurogoshi’s new book, but Hisui quickly falls asleep.
You’re amazing! Thank you so much! I think I tend to get lost when things aren’t chronological. I caught the first bit about the murder and Bessho, and thought there was a flashback, but wasn’t sure, so that made the rest more fuzzy - I caught a lot of the actual information but didn’t have quite enough to put everything together to make sense. But that helps a lot, thanks!
I feel weirdly guilty asking for help here, almost like I’m cheating at an assignment or something But this book is the highest Natively level I’ve attempted, AND I only have the audiobook, so I’m trying not to beat myself up about it!
I don’t really dislike this part, compared to this the previous part was more like an introduction. But don’t really like it either, specially the way the dialogues give YA vibes. And regarding the mystery, I still expect more. But I’m patient anyway.
Hisui is so lonely, I felt a bit sorry for her.
And I didn’t really understand this:
「オヒゲが痛そうですね」
Help please?
Same! At this point, I take anything, Kougetsu being a murderer, dual personality, or…
Yeah I noticed your post, thanks for the heads up!
Law and Order 
I still have almost no clue about name readings and how often they get messed up, so no idea if this theory holds up 
that one I’m less sure of. I think it is just us sussing out the why and how and less a whodunnit, but it’s daring plot move as the why and how need to be very interesting to make it worth knowing the criminal from the get go.
and how much of a supernatural element will there be, or if there’s just some non-supernatural trickery going on
I didn’t expect it at all.
But this book is the highest Natively level I’ve attempted, AND I only have the audiobook, so I’m trying not to beat myself up about it!
